If you’ve read my posts you’ve probably seen that I feel that diatomaceous earth is one of the best and safest products for killing bed bugs.
But you may also be asking yourself, will diatomaceous earth kill bed bug eggs? Great question. And the short answer is no, it won’t. But don’t despair!
You see, this product is a powder that works when the bed bug crawls across it. The powder is nothing more than finely ground sea shells. Those sharp shards will rip open the bugs stomach as they crawl across it. This will dry them out causing them to die.
But the eggs aren’t crawling anywhere so the powder doesn’t work on them. But the good/bad news is that soon the eggs will hatch. As soon as the bugs start crawling around they will die when they crawl over the powder.
So even though the Diatomaceous Earth doesn’t kill the eggs until they hatch. It will start to work on killing them soon after they hatch.
The important part is to make sure that you apply the powder correctly for it to work. Many times people will dump a bunch around their bed thinking that if some works more is better. That is just is not true!
If there is too much powder the bugs will just crawl around it. What you need is a fine mist of the powder so they crawl through it. You can get more ideas on the use of the powder here!
You can sometimes find Diatomaceous Earth in your local hardware store or at my favorite on-line source here. Where ever you get it – just make sure that you get it to help you get rid of Bed Bugs and your life will be much more comfortable!
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I am a first time bed bug hostess..my landlord is diligently treating the problem with exterminators..but this saga has been ongoing for 3 months now. People say that the trick is in the preparation. This I have done to the nth degree. My daughter has even said that we will have to use skype to visit. Anyway, it was a real find to read your article on diatomacious earth and bed bug extermination! My concern is that I have 3 cats (active and young). Could you please send me suggestions as to how I can treat for the bugs and still keep my felines healthy? Looking forward to your reply. Thanking you in advance for your help!:)
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Sorry it took me so long to answer your questions. I’ve had some health issues that slowed me down for a while. We also have cats and it scared me about what the treatments might do to them. What we did was pack them up in cat carriers and put them on the patio for several hours to let the initial treatments dissipate. If you get food grade diatomaceous earth you can treat without worrying about your cats. Have you used a mattress enclosure on your beds? The mattress is usually the single most infested place when you have bed bugs. Making sure to use a mattress enclosure will help a lot!
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Hi, i’ve read that bed bugs keep reproducing inside the matress enclosure, and can get out by biting it, is this true?. Also, do bed bugs penetrate all the way inside the matress? i mean can they kind of dig or something? cause i have an infested matress, i stopped sleeping there, been using some product that works really well but i find one or two new (mid size) bed bugs every day or so and there’s no furniture in that area so i was thinking maybe they are coming from INSIDE the matress.
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Bed Bugs do absolutely hide in the mattress and they are really difficult to kill there. The best way to deal with them once they are in a mattress is with a bed bug proof mattress cover. Here is a link for more information.
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Hello
How do you treat your bedroom with DE? I want to put the stuff down but not at the expense of my health
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You should make sure that you get “food grade” DE. Then I would sprinkle it around the edges of your room and around the feet of your bed.